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Art Quilts
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Quilting Techniques

When I first discovered art quilting, heavily encrusted, beaded quilts were very popular due to a revival of crazy quilting. For a while, paint, needle felting, and fabric manipulation became more popular as surface embellishment--and that's still true. But I see beaded embellishments are making...

Scraps, scraps, scraps! If you create fiber art , fabric scraps are a way of life. Too pretty (or expensive) to throw away, too many to keep contained. They must be good for something! Don't let fabric scraps take over your studio. Learn how to turn them into fabulous scrap quilts with Alex Anderson...

When you learn to quilt , the first lesson is that a quilt is made up of three elements: the top, the batting, and the backing fabric. Together they are known as a quilt sandwich. In this eFolio project from Colorful Fabric Collage , Sue Bleiweiss used wool felt and interfacing as the batting. Now, when...

If I told you to go to your LQS to get some PFD so you could finish your ATC you HSY, would you know what I was talking about? Quilters use many abbreviations to communicate basic quilting terms. Some are practical: you don't want to have to write (or repeat) "half-square triangles" over...

Is it a coincidence that the word "text" can be found in "texture" and "textiles"? Maybe so. But whether you scribble on background fabric with a permanent pen or make a focal point with 3-D embellished letters, text adds texture to textiles. Here are five techniques for...

My favorite work day is Tuesday, because that's when our office holds show-and-tell. Given the array of quilters, sewists, and mixed-media artists in our group (many of whom also knit, crochet, and make jewelry), you never know what to expect. Managing editor Rose deBoer (L) and Assistant editor...

Looking back over the last 12 months, I'd have to say that portraiture was a big trend in modern and creative quilting . From pixel quilts made of tiny fabric squares to mixed-media quilts that enhanced fabric with paint or colored pencil, quilt artists made a lot of faces. Judging by what I've...

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the U.S., a day when we gather with family and friends, stuff ourselves with traditional foods (or their vegetarian, gluten-free, low-sodium versions), and reflect on what we are thankful for. Some of us also watch football. Our entire Quilting Arts family feels especially...

Where do you get your inspiration for art quilts ? Quilting artists get asked that question all the time. Most artists I know have keen powers of observation. They take in the patterns of bricks and grids in the city, the shapes and colors of the garden, and the unusual (to them) motifs and architecture...

How do you find time to work on your fabric art ? It's a question I hear often (sometimes in my own head). Turn painted fabric into fabric art in 5 minutes. We'd all love hours to spend in our studios--but that's not realistic for most who aren't full-time artists. So how do you find...

When I was a child, before we had handheld devices--or even more than a handful of TV channels--we often passed the time by coloring. Any time the adults wanted to keep the young folk quiet and occupied, out came a fresh coloring book and box of crayons, and we were absorbed for what seemed like hours...

When creating quilted wall hangings , what do you use for inspiration? Many quilt artists take their cue from their own photos. Lisa Thorpe uses the Brushes3 app to 'sketch' her photo in preparation for making a wall hanging. Lisa Thorpe uses her photos as a jumping off point for her wall quilts...

Besides being fun, thread sketching is an effective way to add details that can make your work highly realistic, including subtle color shifts, intricate textures, and a sense of dimension, according to machine stitching expert Susan Brubaker Knapp. She uses thread sketching on both her fusible appliquéd...

My beautiful mom with my very first quilt. My mother taught me many things. An excellent seamstress, she made most of my clothes (and those of my three sisters) when I was young, and then taught me to make my own. It was also under her guidance that all of us learned to knit-and crochet, and needlepoint...

Why did I ever take up quilting? Necessity! I was 16 years old and redecorating my impossibly small bedroom. A section of my second quilt, when I was a newbie at quilt making. Armed with a redwork pattern of kittens in a variety of poses and a few yards of calico, I set to work. Twelve embroidered blocks...